When worried animal lovers saw what appeared to be a motionless dog on the roof of a church, they called in the RSPCA.

And when officers arrived on the scene they were quick to scale the building to get rescue what they thought was a poorly animal.

However, a close inspection found the 'animal' on the roof of the Elim Pentecostal Church in Dalton Road, Port Talbot was in fact a stuffed toy.

One inspector said it was the first time he had ever been called out to rescue a cuddly toy.

The motionless dog turned out to be a life-sized soft toy (Image: RSPCA Cymru)

Inspector Duguid, who attended the call out, said: “I must admit it was such a relief – as I had been preparing myself for what could have been an extremely distressing and difficult job, and then I realised that it wasn’t a dog at all!